CKNW Editorial
for September 13, 2000

Today's editorial is a plea to Progressive Conservatives, including the executive, to join with or at least support the Canadian Alliance. But in making this plea you will see that the compliment it confers on Stockwell Day and the Alliance is a bit back-handed.

I'm generally a middle of the roader. Perhaps a bit conservative on the fiscal side, perhaps a bit left on the social side. And I think there are a great many British Columbians like me.

In my earlier years, the party that best represented my interests was the Liberal Party. But by the seventies it was clear that they were spendthrifts and much more importantly, stood for a different view of the country than I had. It was hard to do but I started to support the Progressive Conservative Party and voted for them until it was clear that they were no more fiscally responsible than the Liberals and that they too had a view of Canada I couldn't support. I might add, parenthetically, that I consider the unity question far more important than fiscal policy. Governments will be spendthrifts or thrifty as their moods strike them but the question of keeping the country can only be bungled once.

In all events, since 1993 I have editorially supported Reform cum Alliance ... but in so doing have had considerable concern about their attitude towards social questions. I have been very bothered by the sharp edge they seem to have ... by their attitudes towards questions of race ... by their general approach to minorities ... and their apparent unconcern for fellow citizens not as blessed as others. I am no less concerned about these things today than I was before the rise of Stockwell Day ... indeed he has increased my worries because I happen to think he may form the next government.

This is where you conservatives come in. There is not one of you who doesn't know deep down ... maybe not all that deep down either ... that Joe Clark is hopeless and that in Western Canada his thoughts about appeasing his way to national unity are just not on. Now I don't say that just because your case looks bad right now that you should make other political arrangements ... what I say is that your case is terminal. Your party has no money, the parliamentary party is in disarray, and your leadership totally out of touch. Sooner or later, if you're going to make a political difference, you will go elsewhere and the only elsewhere is the Alliance.

But that's not why I think you should change. I believe that the only way the Canadian Alliance can be made over into a party that cares for all Canadians is if their rough edges are honed by an injection of middle of the roaders which most of you Tories are. I don't want an Alliance government as that party is presently constituted. I want some humanity in my government ... I want a party that is committed to social justice as well as fiscal and constitutional reform. That can only happen if the rednecks in the Alliance are not only out numbered but out debated from within.

I know old allegiances are hard to break. Many of you have been Tories almost as a birthright. But things change and the political face of Canada has changed. You've become a party which, in effect, now only represents part of Atlantic Canada. Trust me when I tell you that it's only going to get worse. You have a chance to make a difference within the Canadian Alliance - a huge difference - and by doing so ensure that fiscal conservatism and a heart can have a place in a political party with a chance to get rid of the bluddy Liberals. I think ... indeed I'm certain ... that British Columbia and Canada will be the winners if you return from the sidelines to the middle of the great political battle that's shaping up